Arnault in the way to-night?"
"As if I cared a rap for him!" said Graydon, turning irritably away.
He did care, however, and felt that Miss Wildmere was making too much
use of the liberty she had provided for. She, like many others, could
be half hysterical while the violence of the storm lasted, and yet,
when quiet was restored, was capable of making a jest of her fears
and the most of a delightful conjunction of affairs, which placed two
eligible men at her beck, to either of whom she could become engaged
before she slept. The arrival of her father had turned the scale
decidedly in favor of Mr. Arnault, for the latter, without revealing
his transaction with Mr. Muir, had whispered to Mr. Wildmere his
conviction that Henry Muir was borrowing at ruinous interest. This
information accorded with the broker's previous knowledge, and he was
eager that his daughter should decide for Arnault at once.
This, however, the wilful girl would not do. She enjoyed the present
condition of affairs too well, and was not without hope, also, that
her father was mistaken; for she felt sure, from Graydon's manner,
that he was not aware of his brother's financial peril, and this fact
inclined her to doubt its existence.
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